After retiring from the Marines I went to work for the Pennsylvania State police as a Forensic Photographer. I liked that job a lot because it was, for the most part, very quiet and peaceful—you might say dead-end. After working at that for a few years I became interested in Forensic video analysis. I think my main reason for interest in that field was as a way of proving to my father I could make a living watching television.

I am now totally retired from all forms of work, with the exception of those small requirements my wife now inflicts on me—tasks preformed for little or no pay, I might add. My lovely and gentle wife added to this blend of joy and frustration by acquiring an attack dog for home security. Very few people have the slightest conception of the sense of failure a former Marine achieves as he walks behind a six pound miniature Yorkshire Terrier, appropriately named Trouble.

With the profits from my book sales, I hope to be able to afford a “pooper scooper.”

SYNOPSIS "CONVERSATIONS WITH A DEAD MAN"

A stroll through an old cemetery will reveal very little about the people buried there. Their headstones will whisper of father, wife or lost child----but they don't sing of the lives those men and women led. Even our national heroes are lucky to have one or two of their life's accomplishments inscribed on their markers for future generations to marvel at.

Cemeteries are filled with forgotten people. They were people who had lives rich with or empty of the joys that just being alive creates for us.

Once we are dead and gone, our lives quickly fade into small morsels of oral history and are slowly forgotten by family and friends as time and generations pass.

What would these forgotten souls tell us if they could talk?

Conversations With a Dead Man answers some of those questions from a dead man's point of view. John Wesley Elder will share his loves, failures, accomplishments and the simple life he led with you.

Spending a few hours with him will allow you to understand not only the man, but glimpse the times he lived in. You'll come to understand that although he's dead, he still has a few quirks in his personality and one or two sorrows------he's much the same as you or I.

John Wesley Elder was an ordinary man who lived, loved and built a life for himself. He invites you to join him for a quiet chat or two, if you have the time he'll share events in his life that you can't find on his headstone.

He'll share his life and also try to help you understand the times he lived in and introduce you to some of the people who filled his life with joy and sorrow.

So set down, lean against the coolness of his head stone and just listen.

OTHER WORKS BY DOUG LUCAS

Doug Lucas is also the author of "The Good Servant" published by Gypsy Shadow Press in 2011 as well as "The Man In The Mountain" to be published March of 2012.